The present invention relates to method of and apparatus for editing a video signal for use with an integrated-type editing machine, a video cassette recorder (VCR) with an editing function or editing system for editing and recording a video signal, for example.
Editing systems for editing a video signal (including an audio signal) need a plurality of VCRs for reproducing video signals, a digital multi-effector (DME) or digital video effector (DVE), audio mixer, recording VCR in order to implement so-called A-B roll editing, i.e., to provide a wide variety of special effects on two video and audio recorded materials (i.e., digital special effect such as "mix", "wipe", "enlarge", "reduce" and coordinate transform of video signal and audio mix effect et cetera) and an editing apparatus for executing editing by controlling these devices.
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows in block form an example of an editing system. The editing system will be described below with reference to FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, the editing system comprises a reproducing-side VCR 102 for reproducing a recorded material tape 101 serving as an A roll, a reproducing-side VCR 103 for reproducing a recorded material tape 104 serving as a B roll, a DME (digital multi-effector) for creating special effects on a reproduced video signal V1 supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCR 102 and a reproduced video signal V2 supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCR 103, an audio mixer 106 for creating various audio effects on a reproduced audio signal A1 supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCR 102 and a reproduced audio signal A2 supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCR 103, a recording-side VCR 107 for recording an output signal Vo supplied thereto from the DME 105 and an output signal Ao from the audio mixer 106 on a magnetic tape of a video tape cassette 108 and an editing controller 109 for controlling the above-mentioned respective units.
As shown in FIG. 1, the recorded material tape 101 serving as the A roll is set on the reproducing-side VCR 102 and the recorded material tape 104 serving as the B roll is set on the reproducing-side VCR 103. The reproduced video signals V1, V2 from the reproducing-side VCRs 102, 103 are supplied to the DME 105 and the reproduced audio signals A1, A2 are supplied to the audio mixer 106, respectively. The recorded material tape 104 serving as the B roll is made by copying the recorded video signal of the recorded material tape 101 serving as the A roll.
The DME 105 creates various special effects, such as "mix", "wipe" and "dissolve" on the reproduced video signals V1, V2 supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCRs 102, 103 under the control of a control signal supplied thereto from the editing controller 109 which will be described later on. The DME 105 supplies the video signal Vo to the recording-side VCR 107 as a processed result. The audio mixer 106 creates various effects, such as "delay", "reverberation", "equalizing", "panning" and "mix" on the reproduced audio signals A1, A2 supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCRs 102, 103 under the control of a control signal supplied thereto from the editing controller 109. The audio mixer 106 supplies the audio signal Ao to the recording-side VCR 107 as a processed result.
The recording-side VCR 107 records the video signal Vo supplied thereto from the DME 105 and the audio signal Ao supplied thereto from the audio mixer 106 on the magnetic tape of the video tape cassette 108 by using rotary magnetic heads (not shown) so as to form slant tracks under the control of a control signal supplied thereto from the editing controller 109. Thus, the video tape cassette 108 is produced as a finally edited recorded material tape cassette.
The editing controller 109 controls the above-mentioned devices based on a variety of editing commands entered thereto by the operator through a console unit (not shown) or editing data, such as EDL (edit decision list) data composed of time code data of edit points and a variety of control data.
Operation of the editing system shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram used to explain operation of the editing system shown in FIG. 1 to record three cuts by using the reproduced video signals V1, V2 from the reproducing-side VCRs 102, 103 to provide the video tape cassette 108 as the finally edited recorded material tape cassette.
In FIG. 2, reference symbol V1 (ST1) depicts the reproduced video signal supplied from the reproducing-side VCR 102 at step ST1 which is the first processing step; reference symbol V2 (ST2) depicts the reproduced video signal supplied from the reproducing-side VCR 103 at the step ST1 which is the first processing step ST1; reference symbol Vo1 (ST1) depicts the output video signal supplied from the DME 105 at step ST1 which is the first processing step; reference symbol Vo2 depicts a recording signal at step ST1 which is the first processing step ST1; reference symbol V1 depicts a reproduced video signal supplied from the reproducing-side VCR 103 at step ST2 which is the next processing step; reference symbol V2 (ST2) depicts a reproduced video signal supplied from the reproducing-side VCR 103 at step ST2 which is the next processing step; reference symbol Vo1 (ST2) depicts an output video signal supplied from the DME 105 at step ST2 which is the next processing step; reference symbol Vo2 depicts a recording signal at step ST2 which is the next processing step; and reference symbol Vr depicts an edited result that is finally recorded on the tape of the video tape cassette 108 set on the recording VCR 107.
Further, in FIG. 2, reference symbols CUT1, CUT2 and CUT3 depict recorded material cuts, respectively. Reference symbol (1/2) affixed to the cut CUT2 depicts the first half portion of the cut CUT2. Reference symbol (2/2) affixed to the cut CUT2 depicts the second half portion of the cut CUT2. Reference symbol PRt depicts a pre-roll period, reference symbol Td depicts a special effect period, reference symbol Tv1 depicts a recorded period, and reference symbol Tv2 depicts a recording period, respectively.
It is an object of this example to obtain the video tape cassette 108 in which the video and audio signals are recorded as the finally edited result Vr. Therefore, the operator has to separately reproduce the recorded material tapes 101 and 104 by the reproducing-side VCRs 102 and 103 or the operator has to reproduce the recorded material tape 101 by the reproducing-side VCR 102 and to designate a desired cut by entering an edit-in (cut-in point) and an edit-out (cut-out point). There are two methods for implementing the above-mentioned work.
According to one method, the operator has to designate the edit-in and the edit-out by depressing operation keys of the editing controller 109 in a real time fashion while visually confirming a picture displayed on a television monitor (not shown).
According to another method, the operator has to search for the edit-in and the edit-out by visually confirming a picture displayed on a television monitor (not shown). Then, when the edit-in or edit-out is determined, the operator reads out time code data displayed on the display portion (not shown) of the editing controller 109 and notes the time code data thus read out on a paper or the like. Thereafter, the operator enters the above-mentioned time code data on the note to the editing controller 109 by the operation keys of the editing controller 109 or the like. When the operator carries out the above-mentioned works at every cut, time code data indicating the edit-in and the edit-out of the cut designated by the operator are stored in a memory (not shown) of the editing controller 109 or the like.
Having entered the image data indicating the cut to the editing controller 109, the operator designates image data of reproduced cuts to the reproducing-side VCRs 102 and 103. In this example, the operator can select image data of cuts CUT1 and CUT3 from the reproduced video signal from the reproducing-side VCR 102 and use the same for editing. Also, the operator can select image data of cut CUT2 for editing from the reproduced video signal from the reproducing-side VCR 103 and use the same for editing. Further, the operator can designate the special effect period between the cuts CUT1 and CUT2 by entering time code data. Furthermore, with respect to the cut CUT2, the operator can designate edit-in and edit-out of the first half portion and edit-in (edit-out of the first half portion) and edit-out of the second half portion, respectively.
When the operator enters a command for executing editing after the operator had designated various items for editing, the reproducing-side VCR 102 detects a starting portion of the cut CUT1 and the reproducing-side VCR 103 detects a starting portion of the cut CUT2 during a predetermined period of time including the pre-roll period under the control of the control signals supplied thereto from the editing controller 109. Then, when supplied with a playback start control signal from the editing controller 109, the reproducing-side VCR 102 is placed in the reproducing mode and the reproduced video signal V1 (ST1) serving as image data indicative of the cut CUT1 is output from the reproducing-side VCR 102.
Having recognized a time point advanced from the start time point of the special effect period by the pre-roll period PRt by monitoring the time code data from the reproducing-side VCR 102, the editing controller 109 supplies the control signal to the reproducing-side VCR 103 so that the reproducing-side VCR 103 is set in the reproducing mode. The reproducing-side VCR 103 outputs the reproduced video signal V2 (ST1) as the cut CUT2(1/2). Having recognized the start time point of the special effect period by monitoring the time code data from the reproducing-side VCR 103, the editing controller 109 supplies the control signal to the DME 105 so that the DME 105 is energized to create special effects on the video signal.
Therefore, the DME 105 outputs the output Vo1 (ST1) in which a special effect is created on the portion between the cuts CUT1 and CUT2(1/2) during the special effect period Td. This output Vo1 (ST1) is supplied to the recording-side VCR 107 as the recording signal Vo2 (ST1) and thereby recorded on the magnetic tape of the video tape cassette 108. This is the processing executed at the step ST1 which is the first processing step.
In the processing step ST2, under the control of the editing controller 109, the reproducing-side VCR 102 detects a starting point of the cut CUT3 including the pre-roll period PRt and the reproducing-side VCR 103 detects the starting point of the cut CUT2(2/2) including the pre-roll period PRt. Thereafter, initially, the reproducing-side VCR 103 is set to the reproducing mode in response to the control signal supplied thereto from the editing controller 109. When the reproducing-side VCR 103 is placed in the reproducing mode, the reproducing-side VCR 103 outputs the reproduced video signal V2 (ST2). When the editing controller 109 detects by monitoring the time code data supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCR 103 that the time point reaches the starting portion of the cut CUT2(2/2), the editing controller 109 supplies the control signal to the recording-side VCR 107 to enable the recording-side VCR 107 to record the cut CUT2(2/2).
Subsequently, having recognized by monitoring the time code data supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCR 103 that a time point reaches a time point at which the reproducing-side VCR 102 is operated in the reproducing mode, the editing controller 109 supplies the control signal to the reproducing-side VCR 102, thereby the reproducing-side VCR 102 being set in the reproducing mode. Then, having recognized the special effect period Td by monitoring the time code data supplied thereto from the reproducing-side VCR 102 or 103, the editing controller 109 supplies the control signal to the DME 105 so that the DME 105 implements the special effect processing. The output Vo1 (ST2) of the DME 105 is presented as shown in FIG. 2. This output Vo1 (ST2) is supplied to the recording-side VCR 107 and thereby recorded on the magnetic tape of the video tape cassette 108 set on the recording-side VCR 107.
Study of the recording signal Vo2 (ST2) reveals that a period Tv1 becomes a recording signal period of the previous step ST1 and that a period Tv2 becomes a recording signal period of the step ST2. Then, a resultant recording signal (or recorded signal on a magnetic tape) becomes a continuous recording signal. The edited result Vr can be obtained by the above-mentioned processing steps. Study of the edited result Vr reveals that the cut CUT1, the cut CUT2 and the cut CUT3 are continuously recorded on the magnetic tape of the video tape cassette 108 set on the recording-side VCR 107 and that a period between the cut CUT1 and the cut CUT2 and a period between the cut CUT2 and the cut CUT3 are processed in special effect by the special effect period Td.
In FIG. 2, similarly, the audio signal also is processed by the audio mixer 106 and recorded on the magnetic tape of the video tape cassette 108 set on the recording-side VCR 107, though not shown.
The editing system shown in FIG. 1 needs the two reproducing-side VCRs 102, 103, the recording-side VCR 107, the DME 105, the audio mixer 106 and the editing controller 109 in order to carry out the A-B roll editing including the special effect. Therefore, the editing system becomes large physically and the arrangement of the editing system becomes complicated.
As earlier noted, when the editing is carried out by using many rolls, reproducing-side VCRs have to be added more, making the system arrangement become large in scale. Moreover, operation of the editing system becomes complex and the editing system becomes expensive.
Furthermore, as earlier noted, in order to carry out the A-B roll editing, it is necessary to carry out a cumbersome work that the recorded material tape 101 serving as the A roll is copied to the magnetic tape of another video tape cassette to thereby make the recorded material tape 104 serving as the B roll. This work is cumbersome for the operator and the efficiency in editing is deteriorated considerably.